Apple's 50 jobs got priority over nursing home oversight

State and local officials awarded Apple Inc. more than $213 million in incentives to build a proposed data center in Waukee.
Ben Yoder/The Register

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Apple CEO Tim Cook asks if someone could send him a copy of the team photo they had just taken during a visit to the West Des Moines Apple Store on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017. Cook was in Iowa announcing the companies plans for its $1.375 billion data center in Waukee.(Photo: Brian Powers/The Register)Buy Photo

It is astonishing that we are told that the "tax break" we are giving Apple is a tremendous boon for Iowa. The net gain for our $213,000,000 is 50 permanent jobs paying $29 per hour, about $60,320 per year. We don't know anything about benefits or health insurance for any of these workers. By my calculation, if you divide the $213,000,000 by 50, the cost to "we the people" is $4,260,000 per job!

We also recently learned that visits to Iowa nursing homes to monitor them for safety and compliance with state regulations are being eliminated because of state budget cuts. Iowa, where are our priorities? When your loved one dies in an unmonitored nursing home, just send the funeral bill to Apple. It's the least they can do.
When will we learn the difference between boon and boondoggle?